Visa’s contactless payWave system has seen steady growth in Canada as more and more merchants implement the new payment technology.

Paywave, which enables Canadians to make quick and secure transactions by simply tapping their card against a POS reader, is already in place at many popular Canadian establishments, including SUBWAY, Second Cup, The Jean Coutu Group, Country Style and Coffee Time.

In addition, TD Canada Trust and RBC Royal Bank are now actively issuing Visa payWave cards to their customers. By the end of 2010, it is expected that there will be several million Visa payWave cards in the Canadian market.

Visa says it is also working with mobile network operators, phone and chip manufacturers to bring NFC-enabled mobile Visa payWave transactions to consumers.